Indian sports wrap, August 24: Tanvi storms into U-15 girls singles final, Gnana Dattu bags bronze in championships

BADMINTON

Asia U-15/U-17 championships: Tanvi storms into U-15 girls singles final, Gnana Dattu bags bronze

India’s top junior badminton star Tanvi Patri registered a dominating win over Thailand’s Kungkaew Kakanik to reach the U-15 girls singles final at the Badminton Asia U-17 & U15 junior championships in Chengdu, China, on Saturday.

Patri, seeded no. 1 in girls U-15 category, was made to work hard in the opening game by sixth seed Kakanik of Thailand but ultimately breezed through to a 21-19, 21-10 win in just 31 minutes.

She will now face second seed Nguyen Thi Thu Huygen of Vietnam, who got the better of China’s Liu Yu Tong 21-18, 17-21, 21-19 in the other semifinal.

Samiya Imad Farooqui had won the U-15 girls singles crown in 2017, and Tasnim Mir was victorious in the same category in 2019.

However, there was a heartbreak for Gnana Dattu TT in the U-17 boys singles as he went down against Indonesia’s Radithya Bayu Wardhana in three games and will come home with a bronze medal.

Gnana Dattu started aggressively against Radithya and looked on course to book a final spot when he easily grabbed the opening game. But the Indian lost momentum and also needed a medical time out as he went down 9-21, 21-13, 21-13.

In the last edition of the championships, India had won the gold medal in the boy’s U-15 singles category and a silver in U-17 girls singles.

– Team Sportstar